When the child put his thumb in his mouth and close his/her lips over it starting to such his finger while the nail of thumb is on the down side, the child starts also plays with his hair or any soft toy with the other hand.

This habit is so common among children all over the world and some children suck more than one finger at once.

Specialists thinks that the reasons are the following:

1. Lack of safety feeling and the belonging to his/her family in addition to plenty of family’s arguments.
2. Discrimination between children.
3. Mistreatment of the child and being cruel while behaving with him.
4. Permanent rebukes and the feeling of weakness and lack of self-confidence.
5. Not fulfilling the main needs of the child like food, drinks and hygiene.

The benefits of this habit:

1. The child feels peaceful and relaxed.
2. Evolutionary habit.
3. Compensatory habit.

The best reaction:

1. The habit is evolutionary, which starts showing up on babies and disappears later on after several months.
2. You shouldn’t try to prevent this habit at all as long as it is within the normal limits because your child will get rid of it naturally.
3. If your child becomes addict to this habit after the age of 3 years old, you have to look for the reason behind that habit.
4. You should never go for threatening or punishment to stop that habit.